As others have said, very little happens in this. Even if you accept this as a psychological drama (with little that is dramatic), the audience's faith is destroyed early on by the many mistakes. At launch, Stanaforth is sitting upright, instead of reclining. The g-force would not be tolerable in that position. He is shown sharpening a pencil. Even with artificial gravity, the shavings would play havoc with the ventilation system. (The old story about NASA spending millions developing a pen for weightless conditions, while the Russians used a pencil, is a myth.) The lack of delay in the communications is perhaps the most obvious goof although the makers will probably claim that it was merely a dramatic device (again, with no drama). The EVA suit, with the big welder's gauntlets, looked like a cross between kid's fancy dress outfit and a shell suit.
Review of Approaching the Unknown
